Three Days
by SilverWolf7
Summary: Ril turns 18 and celebrates with Jackie, the Doctor and Rose. A continuation of sorts to my story Ril. Might help to read that first.


Three Days

It had only been three days of his life, three days in possibly the worst time in his life and he had been young then, only four years old. He had spent quite a while back then with the Doctor looking after him, Rose helping, and he had been wild and very uncooperative to them both.

It wasn't until the Doctor, who by that time had been solely responsible for looking after him, had needed a break and had taken him to Jackie that he had settled down a bit. Enough to sleep, enough to eat properly, and enough to play.

He had been bad for her too, but she had done something for him that neither the Doctor nor Rose had done. She had acted like a parent towards him after his parents had been killed in an earthquake. She had been sympathetic and put up with his moods. She had allowed him to cry, to scream, to play roughly with his toys in his own version of acting out.

She had fed him at regular intervals, made sure to do it correctly too, and had held him whenever he'd let her.

Now he was older, 18 years old and a few years off being an adult. Humans, as he had found out, especially where Jackie and Rose came from, were considered adults at his age. Some were considered adults at 21, some younger depending on where they lived. It was odd to him. They were all one species, so why weren't you considered an adult at the same age wherever you were? It should all be the same like it was for his species, the Tenedril.

He would be considered an adult at the age of 25.

As the sound of the TARDIS echoed around the garden, he grinned widely, knowing that Jackie would be coming by to visit him today, as it was his birthday.

Rose was the first to exit the box, waving at him, before ducking back inside. She didn't normally come out for very long. There was something about his behaviour back when he had been a screaming four year old that had stuck in her mind, and now she thought he didn't like her.

He hadn't seen her enough to form an opinion. The Doctor had though, he left the impression that he was the one who tried too hard.

The Doctor came out after Rose had disappeared back inside, his coat flapping out behind him and his grin widened. "Doctor! Where's Jackie?"

The Doctor grinned widely back at him and nodded to his ship. "Oh, she's coming. She's got a surprise for you."

A surprise. She brought him a gift every time it was his birthday, and once on the day of Christmas on her own planet. Usually it was something small, a toy or plant from her home world. He grew the plants in a garden and had put up signs that they weren't for eating. He wasn't too sure if they were poisonous or not, but he felt better keeping them than eating them to see.

Rose came back out, a grin on her face, and held the door of the TARDIS open. And then Jackie came out, holding a see through box with some plants and sticks. He was confused for a minute as to why she'd buy him that, until he caught movement and realised that living inside the clear box was a tiny lizard.

"Got you this. You've been complaining of not having a pet since you got here, so, I thought, maybe I could buy you one from my own planet. Be a bit different. It won't grow as big as the ones you have here, but it should be just as friendly with lots of love and care."

"What is it? How do I look after it? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Ril, slow down on the questions and just enjoy the moment," the Doctor whispered to him, before patting him on the back and said in a loud voice. "Happy Birthday! Hope you like the gift. I wasn't expecting it, that's for sure."

Jackie rolled her eyes and whacked the Doctor on the arm. "You be quiet." She turned back to him and smiled. "It's an iguana. I've got books you can have to explain how to look after it. As to boy or girl, I have no idea."

Grinning, he took the box and looked at his new pet. "Will it grow bigger?"

"Oh, yeah. This is a baby one. So that it can get used to you through its life. It will be less likely to run away if you let it out of the cage."

His grin slipped a bit at that. "It could run away? Why?"

Jackie shrugged and looked around her. "Odd place, new people, baby... it'd be scared."

Those three days reared up in front of him and his smile slipped away completely. He looked at the tiny lizard inside the box and knew how it felt. For at least a week, he had been in a box, unable to get out, scared and hurt and wanting his parents who had been taken away from him. And then he had been taken out of that box, into a new box, but one which was friendly and nice, and he had been able to express himself properly.

He hadn't been able to exit Jackie's flat, because he looked too different from the humans. But Jackie made up for that by taking care of him in a way neither the Doctor nor Rose had been able to do.

Since then, she visited him regularly. While it was every weekend for her, it was a few times a year for him. It evened out a bit, since he aged slower and had a longer lifespan, and they both saw each other enough to be happy.

For the first two years after being adopted into a new home on his own planet, he had been a nightmare to the couple who had taken him in. He had been disruptive, had slept badly, and had done bad things just to make them angry.

They never yelled at him though, and after a while he had settled down into life there. But the only thing he had been able to enjoy during those years had been Jackie's visits. The first few were spent just hugging each other, with him telling her he wanted to go back to living with her.

He understood the continuous no's, but it had taken many years to get to that point. She had been right the first time; it would be unfair for him to have stayed with her in that tiny flat. It was 14 years later now, and while he loved his adopted parents, he had never had a pet. They were a poor family and had never been able to afford it.

And then he remembered that Jackie was pretty much the same. Where had she got the money?

He put the box on the ground and watched the lizard looking out, but not running around like he expected it would. He looked back up to Jackie and smiled. "Thank you. I don't know what to call it. I'll give it a name later, after I find out what it is."

She smiled at him, patted his head like she was always doing when she was around and stepped back. "Forgot the books. I'll be back in a tick. You get acquainted with your new little friend there."

He did as she asked, pulling the lizard out of the box and holding it close, but making sure he didn't hurt it. He gently started to sooth it in the way baby lizards were used to on his world, and was thankful when it worked on lizards from Earth too.

It lay in his hands, calm and docile. It looked at him through one of its eyes and he grinned back at it. His own pet. He'd wanted one since he had given his toy to Jackie when he had been left here. And now Jackie had gifted him with a real pet. An iguana, she had called it?

It didn't look like the lizards that were kept as pets. Those were big and grey. This one wouldn't get anywhere near as big, judging by the clear box, and was bright green in colouring. But it was his. He loved it already.

Jackie, true to her word, exited the TARDIS yet again, carrying a small stack of books, all with the same type of lizard on the covers. On top of the books was something he hadn't seen before. It looked like a small rectangular box. There were clear places in it at parts, and a screen like the one in the TARDIS.

"I don't know if this is allowed or not, Doctor, but I'm not missing out. I'm taking photos."

Whatever a photo was, it must be pretty important to Jackie, because when it looked like the Doctor was going to protest, the glare Jackie gave him made the man change his mind. "Alright. But just one! No need for any more than that, or people will start wondering who the weird blue kid is."

"Fine. A group photo then. Have you got a stand for my camera in that machine of yours?"

Ril guessed that the small silver box was this camera and it was used to take these photos. The Doctor nodded but didn't move towards his ship. "Why don't I just take the photo for you, Jackie? I can manage that without mucking it up."

Once again he was glared at. "Because, silly, you're going in the photo! You're as much a part of this mixed up family as anyone else. Shame Mickey isn't here to be included. He would have liked that."

The Doctor looked surprised and for the first time Ril had known him, was silent. He went off to the ship without any more hassle, going to get this stand Jackie wanted.

At least he knew what a stand was. The stand the Doctor brought out was a tripod, thankfully something his species had also invented, or else he'd not know what that was either. It was a sturdy wooden one, with a metal clamp on the top.

Jackie looked at it with suspicion, but the Doctor fixed up the camera on it so that nothing was broken or scratched.

With the push of a few buttons, the camera was fixed so it would take a photo at a certain time. To him, it was advanced. Very much so, and he had a big grin on his face just knowing he was seeing this, even though it was so small a thing.

Jackie quickly grabbed him by one arm and Rose with the other and made them stand in front of it. She flung an arm around his waist, and yelled for the Doctor to get into the shot. Taking his cue with a grin on his face, the Doctor walked up behind them, draping a hand over his shoulder. He was still grinning widely, watching the camera like he was told to.

After a few seconds a flash dazed him, and he had to blink a few times to get rid of the spots dancing in front of his eyes, but he didn't mind. That such a small thing could produce such an intense light fascinated him almost as much as the camera itself.

When he saw the picture he was amazed. There he was, on a small screen. And so was Jackie, hugging his side and Rose's side, with the Doctor's head on top of hers and an arm around his and Rose's shoulder. All of them grinning widely at the camera.

"It's me! All of us! How does it work?!"

"You just point and click. I don't understand the mechanics either, so we're both in the dark with that. Ask the Doctor if you want, but you won't get an answer that makes sense," she replied. Rose laughed at that.

"He does tend to go on a bit. Half the things that he says I don't understand," Rose stated, going over to where the Doctor was, near the TARDIS, propping the tripod up against it, so that it was out of the way. From experience, Ril knew that no one else would go near the blue box, so it was safe where it was.

He watched as those two disappeared inside, knowing they'd both be out in a minute. On his birthday visits, they usually baked food suitable to their own races. Since his species was strictly vegetarian, as Jackie put it, their food wasn't suitable to humans. He had spotted the Doctor trying it once, but he obviously hadn't liked it.

It had made him laugh at the time, seeing the faces he pulled. Since then, he hadn't touched the leaves of any of the edible plants around the area he lived.

He hurried home for a few minutes, to see if his parents had set up the table. It wasn't often that all three of them joined in, but this birthday was a human milestone year. The table was set with enough room for the human food and seats for three.

He put the clear box holding his new pet in his room, before sitting at the table. Jackie soon joined him, sitting to his left and hugging him to her side.

"You are growing up way too fast. Yet again, that happened to Rose too, I think. Guess it's a parent thing or something."

He grinned widely and shrugged. "Maybe. I still would have liked to have stayed with you sometimes, but I like it here. And now I have a pet to share it with! Thank you, Jackie. You're the best!"

He hugged her close, and they were still hugging when the Doctor and Rose came back, with plates of food.

He had known today would be a good day, but he hadn't expected it to be as good as it was. With good food and better company, it flew by. By the time he went to bed, early into the morning, he had stated several times, that it was the best day yet. He hoped to have more like it.

He also wanted his own camera.

Maybe, if he was really lucky, he'd get one on his 25th birthday.


End file.
